It’s OK to Cry

It’s important to remember that crying is a normal human emotion. Much like laughing, or being angry, crying is a release of anger and feelings. A lot of us feel a sense of shame when crying, especially in front of others or in general public because we don’t want the attention or we feel embarrassed, because if you do cry, some people will ask you if you are OK, and some of us don’t want that. I think it’s a natural reaction for people to ask if were OK, but also for us to pull away and hide our tears and be embarrassed or at least do something to stop from crying.

I cry a lot, I cry to release my emotions, I cry as a way of compartmentalising my emotions and releasing any negative thoughts, and I always have done. I remember being quite little and being at home and feeling like I needed to cry but I wanted to try and replicate my brother, who doesn’t cry as much as I do. I could feel the emotion in my head, I could feel the pressure of my body trying to cry and I could feel myself trying to hold it in and I just couldn’t, and so I just burst into tears.

My mum helped me fully embrace that part of me, and over time I have learned to embrace it.

For a lot of other men though, it might be difficult to let yourself cry, perhaps out of fear of judgement, perhaps out of fear of being seen as ‘weak’, or because you were taught not to cry.

For anybody who refuses to cry because they see it as a weakness, even though there is no winning if you don’t cry, and even if there was no winning, what exactly are you getting out of it if you don’t cry? Yes absolutely your natural reaction may not be to cry, and you might not cry a little, but my point is that if you do cry, but you feel ashamed, you shouldn’t, because crying is a normal human reaction.

Crying doesn’t make you weak, and it’s important to know what. For some reason, society has taught us, in it’s own weird way, that crying is a form of weakness and to be stronger, but then you have to define what strength is and then you have to explain why crying and strength are connected, even though they aren’t. Crying is a normal emotion as a response to pain, and strength is the ability to maintain a barrier against a force, or even provide more of a force against a so called barrier. So if you cry throughout a period of pain, you need to separate the two, because the crying isn’t getting in the way of being strong.

Have you ever pushed through a painful period of your life, whether it was 5 minutes or 5 hours, and cried as you were pushing through? If crying is considered a weakness then you wouldn’t have been able to push through that particular moment in time. Even though you cried, you had the strength to push yourself and keep going.

So, to sum up, it’s absolutely fine to cry and you should understand that crying is a method of dealing with your emotions. Crying doesn’t physically hurt anybody and the most it can do is offend somebody, which is entirely on them and not you.

If you gotta cry, you gotta cry!

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Hi,

Thank you for reading this blog post, I’m very appreciative of you for doing so. I was diagnosed with Dyspraxia at a young age and it has always been a cause of great difficulty for me. Forming sentences is something that doesn’t come easily for me but I love to help people out, so I want to write lots of blog posts to help inspire other men and women who have Dyspraxia to help build their confidence.

I currently work as a healthcare assistant, mainly with elderly people who are looking to rehabilitate from a fall or an injury or surgery, and I love it! It’s long hours but I enjoy helping them get better, especially when I see them mobilise more. I am working toward becoming a Nurse and I am currently improving my leadership skills.

My hobbies include lifting weights, a bit of skateboarding, reading, learning and I am also married with 1 child.